The Taj Mahal:
The Taj Mahal is an important symbol of India. It is located near Agra in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the Taj Mahal is the most popular & famous tourist attraction in India. Up to three million tourists visit every year. It is also a popular honeymoon destination for Indian couples, because visiting the Taj Mahal is said to make the love of a married couple strong and lasting. |
| The Taj Mahal |
The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum, or large tomb. Why is a building for a dead person considered to be one of the world’s most romantic places? It was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth. Grief-stricken over her death, he ordered the construction of an architectural masterpiece so she would never be forgotten. That’s romantic!
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| The Taj Mahal (at night) |
Building started soon after Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631. It was finished around 1648. More than twenty thousand workers and artisans from across south and central Asia worked on the project. The Taj Mahal is a graceful combination of Persian, Turkish,Islamic, and Indian architecture.
Materials from around India and Asia were used to build the Taj Mahal. More than a thousand elephants transported supplies to the construction site. The Taj Mahal is built primarily of white marble, and twenty-eight different kinds of jewels and precious stones are set into the marble. It is surrounded by red sandstone walls on three sides.
The Taj Mahal is a group of buildings amid a beautiful forty-two acre garden. At the garden’ s center is a long pool that reflects the central main building, which is 58 meters tall and 56 meters wide, with a white marble dome. In all, there are twenty-two domes. There are four 40 meter tall minarets at the corners of the outer wall around the main building. The minarets lean slightly outwards so that they would fall away from the main building in case of an earthquake.
The Islamic holy city of Mecca is to the west of the Taj Mahal, so a mosque was built on that side. To preserve the symmetry of the compound, a guest house was built on the opposite side. Symmetry is an important part of the Taj Mahal’s design. The Taj Mahal became a UNESCO Worl d Heritage Site in 1983. Because of the perfect harmony of its proportions, it is considered to be one of the most beautiful and important examples of art in India.
